| Author | Message | | MADMAX | | Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:00 pm Post subject: GLOBAL VILLAGE RESISTANCE |
| .
GLOBAL VILLAGE RESISTANCE
"Great trees from little acorns grow"
Hundreds of millions of people around the world have grown tired of being dictated to by little men in dark suits. Like myself, they hanker for the days when "a man's home was his castle" and people made decision about their own lives, without being coerced, bullied and pushed into paying for things that they disagreed with.
How to loosen the shackles?
Well, it seems to me, we are pretty well boxed off in many respects. But, at the same time we still hold some of the trump cards .. but have mostly forgotten how to play them! That is our human labour, and skills which the Leviathan that calls itself "Government" depends on.
Now, I'm not saying go on strike .. that has been tried before, but rather, work-to-rule. Slow down .. they want more, and more, and more from us. That's why they have these Ergonomic Studies .. to find ways of squeezing a bit more juice out of each and everyone of us!
Too many people have become obsequious toads to the establishment. There is little dignity or honour in this. Start small, keep it simple and one step at a time.
. | |  | | MADMAX | | Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:14 pm Post subject: |
| .
Brazil fights oil prices with alcohol
Sales of 'Flex' cars that run on alcohol or gasoline surpassed August sales of gasoline-only vehicles.
By Andrew Downie | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilians aren't waiting for high-priced hybrid cars.
Drivers are fighting rising gasoline prices by buying "flex" or "flexible fuel" cars that slurp more alcohol.
Alcohol made from sugar cane is becoming the fuel of choice in Brazil, and other countries - so much so that global sugar prices hit a seven-year high this week.
Regular car engines will run fine on a 10 percent blend of alcohol and gasoline. But by using computer sensors that adjust to whatever mix is in the tank, flex car engines run on either ethanol, gasoline, or any combination of the two. And they have been roaring out of dealerships here since Volkswagen sold the first TotalFlex Golf in March 2003.
Today, flex cars are outselling traditional gasoline models. In August, 62 percent of new cars sold were flex, according to industry numbers. "Demand has been unbelievable," says Barry Engle, the new president of Ford Brasil. "I am hard-pressed to think of any other technology that has been such a success so quickly."
As many countries reexamine their dependence on petroleum fields for fuel, Brazil offers a model for how to make the switch to cane, beet, wheat, or corn fields. The successful transition here comes down to many factors, but price is the primary one, experts say.
Unlike hybrids sold in the US, for example, flex cars sold in Brazil don't cost any more than traditional models. In fact, some models are only available with flex engines now. Ethanol engines use 25 percent more ethanol per mile than gasoline. But ethanol (the alcohol produced by fermenting sugar) usually sells at somewhere between a third to half of the price of gas. Even people who were reluctant to take the plunge and buy a flex say they have been won over by the savings.
"It's been a revelation because of the economy," says Madalena Lira, a university lecturer who says that she and her husband had reluctantly purchased a flex car because it was the only available version of the Fiat Palio Weekend they wanted. "I love this car in spite of it being a flex, not because it is a flex. The savings have been great. I'd certainly buy another one."
In addition to the savings, environmentally conscious drivers appreciate having a car that runs on a cleaner fuel, and some might even buy a flex car because they know it is good for the country's auto and sugar manufacturers. But today, two-and-a-half years into the flex experiment, another unforeseen advantage is emerging.
"There is something curious that we are just starting to see," says Alfred Szwarc, an ethanol consultant with Sao Paulo's sugar cane association. "Gasoline powered cars lose more of their [resale] value than flex cars. People know that oil is finite and that it is going to get more and more expensive. They think that a gasoline-powered car is going to be more difficult to sell. They see flex cars as the car of the future."
Ethanol-powered cars are not new in Brazil. In a bid to cut the country's reliance on foreign oil imports and help their own sugar producers, Brazil's military government pushed alcohol-powered cars in the early 1980s. Gas stations across the country added ethanol pumps to the existing gasoline and diesel ones. Between 1983 and 1988 more than 88 percent of cars sold annually were running on a blend of ethanol and gasoline.
This didn't last for long, though. The subsidies were withdrawn at the end of the decade, and cane farmers quickly realized they could get more from selling sugar than turning it into ethanol. When alcohol fuel shortages ensued it looked like the end of the road for ethanol engines as sales of the experimental cars plummeted.
That experience may have been a bitter one but it gave Brazilians a taste for alternative fuels that lingered. Although most people abandoned ethanol cars, many taxi drivers kept them because it was so much cheaper than a gas-only car. Then the country's Congress passed a law forcing oil companies to add small quantities of ethanol to their gasoline. That prompted car companies to experiment with an engine that would run on both fuels, and when they did, the flex car sales took off.
"Why did this take off here?" asks Mr. Engle. "Because this isn't brand-new. Car buyers concerned about high gas prices or potential ethanol shortages no longer have to make a choice between the two. It used to be an either-or but now there's both and that gives consumers peace of mind and explains why Brazilians have embraced it."
The next task is convincing other nations to adopt the technology, industry experts said. With oil prices at a record high, there is a clear advantage to diluting gasoline or even substituting it, with sugar-based ethanol or one of the biofuel alternatives such as beets or corn.
For most countries, the problem is the lack of ethanol production and a distribution system. Although many countries require oil companies to dilute their gasoline with ethanol (in Brazil, gas sold at the pumps is 25 percent ethanol; and some of the gas sold in the US, China, Australia and Canada is 10-15 percent ethanol), few actually make ethanol or manufacture flex vehicles, and even fewer have a network of gas stations with ethanol pumps.
In the US - with about 4 million flex cars - there are 14 states without even one ethanol pump, says Robert White, project director for the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
With years of experience at every stage of the process, Brazil is in the pole position to help other nations' farmers grow crops, scientists refine it into fuel, or engineers produce the technology to make flex cars, says Rogelio Golfarb, president of Brazil's car makers association. "There is an enormous demand from abroad to know more," Mr. Golfarb says "This is an advantage and an opportunity for Brazil."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1007/p05s01-woam.html
Can already hear the "good ol' boys" down south, dragging rusty "moonshine" stills out of the barn!
This could dent the petro-chemical industries monopoly on fuel, and clip government energy taxes.
. | | | | Cowboy | | Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:32 am Post subject: |
| | Quote: | | Can already hear the "good ol' boys" down south, dragging rusty "moonshine" stills out of the barn! |
 "Rusty"??
You don't really know anything about the south. | | | | bilbo | | Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:03 pm Post subject: |
| one problem is people are persuaded that buying things they don't need and don't realy want is good.
they also live on money that does not exist.
the powers that be, (banks not governments), want us all to exist in a state of perpetual debt, forever trying to pay off the credit card, mortgage etc.
if we were just to live within our means and not tie our souls to the money mill.
but hell, i can't BE anything, if i ain't got that biiiig car!  | | | | MADMAX | | Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:58 pm Post subject: |
| | bilbo wrote: | one problem is people are persuaded that buying things they don't need and don't realy want is good.
they also live on money that does not exist.
the powers that be, (banks not governments), want us all to exist in a state of perpetual debt, forever trying to pay off the credit card, mortgage etc.
if we were just to live within our means and not tie our souls to the money mill.
but hell, i can't BE anything, if i ain't got that biiiig car! |
Hi bilbo,
I quite agree, most people tangled with the banks will never prosper. For myself, I have as little to do with the banks as possible and buy gold and silver in the form of coins or ingots when I want to put some by. At the moment it is best to buy silver as it holds it's value better. Gold is overpriced .. and again the bulk of Gold bullion is held by International Bankers and if there was an economic crash or depression, everyone would be trying to sell gold at the same time. In other words, it would be a buyers market .. and the value of gold would fall dramatically.
So, if you would like to save, but not leave your money in the bank .. then buy a good mixture of precious metals and stones, but not diamonds .. that is another market that is highly controlled.
Take great care how and where you stash your hoard .. you could be the target of thieves, etc. Think long and hard, and be careful who you confide in. People need to become more "self-reliant" .. but this carries with it a greater risk and responsibility.
Good health and prosperity!
MADMAX
. | | | | bilbo | | Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:21 am Post subject: |
| | MADMAX wrote: | .
Brazil fights oil prices with alcohol
Sales of 'Flex' cars that run on alcohol or gasoline surpassed August sales of gasoline-only vehicles.
By Andrew Downie | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilians aren't waiting for high-priced hybrid cars.
Drivers are fighting rising gasoline prices by buying "flex" or "flexible fuel" cars that slurp more alcohol.
Alcohol made from sugar cane is becoming the fuel of choice in Brazil, and other countries - so much so that global sugar prices hit a seven-year high this week.
Regular car engines will run fine on a 10 percent blend of alcohol and gasoline. But by using computer sensors that adjust to whatever mix is in the tank, flex car engines run on either ethanol, gasoline, or any combination of the two. And they have been roaring out of dealerships here since Volkswagen sold the first TotalFlex Golf in March 2003.
Today, flex cars are outselling traditional gasoline models. In August, 62 percent of new cars sold were flex, according to industry numbers. "Demand has been unbelievable," says Barry Engle, the new president of Ford Brasil. "I am hard-pressed to think of any other technology that has been such a success so quickly."
As many countries reexamine their dependence on petroleum fields for fuel, Brazil offers a model for how to make the switch to cane, beet, wheat, or corn fields. The successful transition here comes down to many factors, but price is the primary one, experts say.
Unlike hybrids sold in the US, for example, flex cars sold in Brazil don't cost any more than traditional models. In fact, some models are only available with flex engines now. Ethanol engines use 25 percent more ethanol per mile than gasoline. But ethanol (the alcohol produced by fermenting sugar) usually sells at somewhere between a third to half of the price of gas. Even people who were reluctant to take the plunge and buy a flex say they have been won over by the savings.
"It's been a revelation because of the economy," says Madalena Lira, a university lecturer who says that she and her husband had reluctantly purchased a flex car because it was the only available version of the Fiat Palio Weekend they wanted. "I love this car in spite of it being a flex, not because it is a flex. The savings have been great. I'd certainly buy another one."
In addition to the savings, environmentally conscious drivers appreciate having a car that runs on a cleaner fuel, and some might even buy a flex car because they know it is good for the country's auto and sugar manufacturers. But today, two-and-a-half years into the flex experiment, another unforeseen advantage is emerging.
"There is something curious that we are just starting to see," says Alfred Szwarc, an ethanol consultant with Sao Paulo's sugar cane association. "Gasoline powered cars lose more of their [resale] value than flex cars. People know that oil is finite and that it is going to get more and more expensive. They think that a gasoline-powered car is going to be more difficult to sell. They see flex cars as the car of the future."
Ethanol-powered cars are not new in Brazil. In a bid to cut the country's reliance on foreign oil imports and help their own sugar producers, Brazil's military government pushed alcohol-powered cars in the early 1980s. Gas stations across the country added ethanol pumps to the existing gasoline and diesel ones. Between 1983 and 1988 more than 88 percent of cars sold annually were running on a blend of ethanol and gasoline.
This didn't last for long, though. The subsidies were withdrawn at the end of the decade, and cane farmers quickly realized they could get more from selling sugar than turning it into ethanol. When alcohol fuel shortages ensued it looked like the end of the road for ethanol engines as sales of the experimental cars plummeted.
That experience may have been a bitter one but it gave Brazilians a taste for alternative fuels that lingered. Although most people abandoned ethanol cars, many taxi drivers kept them because it was so much cheaper than a gas-only car. Then the country's Congress passed a law forcing oil companies to add small quantities of ethanol to their gasoline. That prompted car companies to experiment with an engine that would run on both fuels, and when they did, the flex car sales took off.
"Why did this take off here?" asks Mr. Engle. "Because this isn't brand-new. Car buyers concerned about high gas prices or potential ethanol shortages no longer have to make a choice between the two. It used to be an either-or but now there's both and that gives consumers peace of mind and explains why Brazilians have embraced it."
The next task is convincing other nations to adopt the technology, industry experts said. With oil prices at a record high, there is a clear advantage to diluting gasoline or even substituting it, with sugar-based ethanol or one of the biofuel alternatives such as beets or corn.
For most countries, the problem is the lack of ethanol production and a distribution system. Although many countries require oil companies to dilute their gasoline with ethanol (in Brazil, gas sold at the pumps is 25 percent ethanol; and some of the gas sold in the US, China, Australia and Canada is 10-15 percent ethanol), few actually make ethanol or manufacture flex vehicles, and even fewer have a network of gas stations with ethanol pumps.
In the US - with about 4 million flex cars - there are 14 states without even one ethanol pump, says Robert White, project director for the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
With years of experience at every stage of the process, Brazil is in the pole position to help other nations' farmers grow crops, scientists refine it into fuel, or engineers produce the technology to make flex cars, says Rogelio Golfarb, president of Brazil's car makers association. "There is an enormous demand from abroad to know more," Mr. Golfarb says "This is an advantage and an opportunity for Brazil."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1007/p05s01-woam.html
Can already hear the "good ol' boys" down south, dragging rusty "moonshine" stills out of the barn!
This could dent the petro-chemical industries monopoly on fuel, and clip government energy taxes.we don't need a strike, we need a revolution.
. | | | | | Clara Listensprechen | | Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:17 am Post subject: |
| | Cowboy wrote: | | Quote: | | Can already hear the "good ol' boys" down south, dragging rusty "moonshine" stills out of the barn! |
"Rusty"??
You don't really know anything about the south. |
Neither do southerners. What they think they know is twisted myth. | | | | Clara Listensprechen | | Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:20 am Post subject: |
| | The problem I have with Brazil's solution is that alcohol is still a hydrocarbon and still produces greenhouse gas when combusted. That should only be a temporary step toward non-hydrocarbon combustibles. | | | | bilbo | | Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject: |
| | MADMAX wrote: | | bilbo wrote: | one problem is people are persuaded that buying things they don't need and don't realy want is good.
they also live on money that does not exist.
the powers that be, (banks not governments), want us all to exist in a state of perpetual debt, forever trying to pay off the credit card, mortgage etc.
if we were just to live within our means and not tie our souls to the money mill.
but hell, i can't BE anything, if i ain't got that biiiig car! |
Hi bilbo,
I quite agree, most people tangled with the banks will never prosper. For myself, I have as little to do with the banks as possible and buy gold and silver in the form of coins or ingots when I want to put some by. At the moment it is best to buy silver as it holds it's value better. Gold is overpriced .. and again the bulk of Gold bullion is held by International Bankers and if there was an economic crash or depression, everyone would be trying to sell gold at the same time. In other words, it would be a buyers market .. and the value of gold would fall dramatically.
So, if you would like to save, but not leave your money in the bank .. then buy a good mixture of precious metals and stones, but not diamonds .. that is another market that is highly controlled.
Take great care how and where you stash your hoard .. you could be the target of thieves, etc. Think long and hard, and be careful who you confide in. People need to become more "self-reliant" .. but this carries with it a greater risk and responsibility.
Good health and prosperity!
MADMAX
. | self reliance, just what the neocons don't want.
those that can, should learn to grow their own food, learn to shoot and hunt and stop eating and drinking chemical sodden pseudo-food.
no great area of land is needed, access to water, a river or stream, is benificial. | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
